Streaming pool camera input?

DistinguishedBilliards

DistinguishedBilliards

Member
Hello all, thanks for reading.

I know this has been talked about already, I searched but it seems there is not a solid answer.
I am looking for a camera to record and stream from centered in the light. I have a traditional light and my playing partner has a Littman setup.
The gopro 10 seems to be an option but alot of reviews with overheat issues and such.
What is being used that does not give fisheye and seems to function well ?
 
iusedtoberich

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
You need a wide angle lens and you need the camera flush to the ceiling if a standard 8' ceiling. So you need a light designed to surround the camera. I have an SLR camera with a 10-18mm zoom lens (on a crop sensor). This way you can dial in the exact amount of zoom you want for your ceiling height. With an 8' ceiling though, you will definitely have some ball distortion.

Here are a few pictures of my setup. And a bunch of information in the thread if you want more info. I'll say its WAY easier to put a camera in the normal "streaming" setup at the foot end of the table.

Designing new light, projector mount, and camera for table

I'm redoing my table, light, and camera setup. I also just purchased the Projection Pro Billiards system. I also moved my table a few feet, which was the impetus for the new light. I'll be updating this thread with my progress. All comments...
forums.azbilliards.com

Here is a couple min youtube video what picture it produces:
 
ctyhntr

ctyhntr

RIP Kelly
Silver Member
GoPro in Linear field of view (FOV) mode with Predator Arena lights. The older ones with micro HDMI are better than the newer ones with only USB-C. When they're setup for tournaments, they're left on for days on end. Littman has a Gopro mount accessory for their lights, but you will need to raise them as as the traditional height is simply too low. You run into the wide-angle lens fisheye conundrum.
 
iusedtoberich

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
ctyhntr said:
GoPro in Linear field of view (FOV) mode with Predator Arena lights. The older ones with micro HDMI are better than the newer ones with only USB-C. When they're setup for tournaments, they're left on for days on end. Littman has a Gopro mount accessory for their lights, but you will need to raise them as as the traditional height is simply too low. You run into the wide-angle lens fisheye conundrum.
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That looks really good. Do you know what the ceiling height was there?
 
T

The_JV

'AZB_Combat Certified'
A couple of buddies of mine opted for a logitech Mevo recently...

I think the $399 price hasn't changed since their purchase. There's a pretty nice phone app that comes along with it. Allows you to manage more than one camera and can insert score boards /whatever. Tons of comparable features between it and the GoPro. You'd have to do your own comparison though. Too much crap to paste into here. The biggest plus to the Mevo is the ~6hr stand alone battery life.

Personally, I'll grab an older GoPro when one makes itself available.
 
G

Ghost of OBC

Well-known member
Not a camera recommendation, but Open Broadcast Software is a great, free, open source live video switcher. I use it at work for streaming conferences and interviews. It is like a full video truck on your laptop, and it doesn't cost a dime. https://obsproject.com/

The tutorials are geared toward streamers, but I've run 4+ camera spreads for multi-day events. It is really good.

For a camera recommendation: some of the new USB PTZ cameras are really good. The Logitech PTZ Pro 2 is a very versatile unit. I like to run 1 fixed Logitech camera like a C920 and a PTZ Pro 2 with three presets on the remote. I can give the illusion of a 4 camera set up with just those 2 cameras and a laptop running OBS.
 
G

Ghost of OBC

Well-known member
bignick31985 said:

Think this would work about 5' from the table at 7' off the ground? I'm worried it'd be too close to the source.

Great thread btw. Trying to not use my phone once it switches view and makes rightys look left handed.
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That's a great price for PTZ. It says it has a 118 degree wide angle. You could get an idea of how it would work in your space with protractor and a couple of yard sticks. Or, for less precision, you can use a chair or stool to stand with your head about where the camera would be, and extend your arms in front of you at just over 90 degrees to each other, everything inside the lines of your fingers would get captured by the camera.

I did the math and I think it should work fine. With your set up, assuming a 30" high table surface, the camera is 6.1ft from the surface. An 118 degree wide angle would give you just over 20 ft field of view. You should have plenty of wide angle to get the whole table in the frame either in portrait or landscape orientation.

Edit to add: It looks like the Chinese manufacturers often advertise diagonal FOW numbers rather than linear. In that case, your FOW at 6.1 feet would be about 17.5 ft, which should still be plenty.
 

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bignick31985

Life Long Learner
Silver Member
The camera came in. Hooked up to my Chrome book to see how it does. Very nice, much nicer than anything I've used prior. Easily captures the width of the table.

Keeps orientation correct, remote control tilt, pan, zoom. Good color contrast with my led lamps.

Have yet to do any version of YT or FB live to see how it streams.
 
G

Ghost of OBC

Well-known member
That's awesome. I'm glad it will work out for you. Chinese camera descriptions can be a bit...well ya know. Looking forward to seeing some of your streams and recordings.
 
E

eyesjr

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I’m sorry for “raising the dead post,” but I’m looking at building a small arena for streaming matches. I should be able to Mount my lights 9 feet from the floor, and I’m wondering what your thoughts are as to what would work good for “in the light” camera.
Additionally, what cams would work good pole-mounted to give alternate views, and what is a good mixer for multiple signals? I’d like to stream live (or on a slight delay) and mix on the fly.
 
AF pool guy

AF pool guy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
eyesjr said:
I’m sorry for “raising the dead post,” but I’m looking at building a small arena for streaming matches. I should be able to Mount my lights 9 feet from the floor, and I’m wondering what your thoughts are as to what would work good for “in the light” camera.
Additionally, what cams would work good pole-mounted to give alternate views, and what is a good mixer for multiple signals? I’d like to stream live (or on a slight delay) and mix on the fly.
Click to expand...

Streamlabs is free and supports multiple cameras.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
DistinguishedBilliards

DistinguishedBilliards

Member
I am currently using: The Logitech interface feed into OBS. You can do split screen and up to 3-4 cameras Or you can just us OBS for many cameras I usually will just manually switch cameras as needed, With preset hot keys in OBS. For cameras currently have found for side views or higher level tripod views the Logitech 922x pro has a great picture but for a little less money any of the 920 models work very well. I have not yet found a perfect overhead Camera yet. With out really high ceilings it is difficult. I am waiting on info from another member who may have the answer to this issue. No apology Needed for reviving this topic we should keep it going and share all of our knowledge to grow our sport on every level.
 
iusedtoberich

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
For overhead on standard ceiling heights you need about a 12mm focal length. Professional and prosumer DSLR/mirrorless still cameras with a 10-18mm zoom lens are the guaranteed way to get it. Expect to pay about $500 used or $1000 new for the cheapest body and lens combo.

There might be a wide angle webcam that can do it also, but it would probably be hit or miss and you’d have to buy to try then return to amazon.
 
iusedtoberich

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
eyesjr said:
Excellent points, DistinguisheBilliards. @iusedtoberich good to know. I know little to nothing about cameras. Thanks for the direction.
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Find a local player in your room that knows this stuff inside and out. The learning curve is STEEP. From the camera, lens, how to get the video to your computer, how to get multiple cameras to your computer, how to mix their signals together, how to do a score board, how to stream it, etc. No bs it’s harder than learning to play pool.
 
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eyesjr

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
DistinguishedBilliards said:
I am currently using: The Logitech interface feed into OBS. You can do split screen and up to 3-4 cameras Or you can just us OBS for many cameras I usually will just manually switch cameras as needed, With preset hot keys in OBS. For cameras currently have found for side views or higher level tripod views the Logitech 922x pro has a great picture but for a little less money any of the 920 models work very well. I have not yet found a perfect overhead Camera yet. With out really high ceilings it is difficult. I am waiting on info from another member who may have the answer to this issue. No apology Needed for reviving this topic we should keep it going and share all of our knowledge to grow our sport on every level.
Click to expand...
Does OBS let you stream directly? To YouTube/etc? It looks like a cool mixing tool. I don’t have anything to test with yet is why I ask.
 
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